Dean of Faculty Angie Bos, who was appointed March 2, 2026, gave her first talk as a Dean of Occidental, called “U.S. Politics According to Kids“, introducing her scholarship to the college. Bos’ talk summarized a research project she conducted on a small budget to collect a range of data on how kids view political figures.
Bos gave the talk Nov. 2. According to Bos, the event was held the night before the midterm elections to promote political intrigue.
“My goal as a political scientist is always [to have] broad participation of everyone in politics, and my hope is that we can think about ways to encourage diverse engagement in politics,” Bos said. “If we start with that, then eventually, the hope is that our representation also becomes diverse.”
According to associate Dean Kristi Upson-Saia, the The Center for Research and Scholarship (CRS) at Occidental encourages scholarship among faculty.
“When we have a new person in academic affairs, [the CRS] invites them to do this research talk,” Upson-Saia said. “Since I knew she was a political scientist, we thought we should plan this to coincide with the election, so she came up with this particular talk to give.”
According to Bos, for her research, kids were given sets of crayons and asked to draw a political leader. The prompt was based on the “What does a scientist look like?” research question which explores biases in STEM fields. Bos said she hoped the talk would show how the data she has collected could promote voter mobilization among the audience.
“It could be impactful for folks in the room to take their kids to the polling booth, and inspire [them],” Bos said. “Look at me doing my duty, this is how we […] engage in the political world.”
Bos said election season is important for people to imagine the world they want to live in.
“Election season is a time for all of us to reflect on the kind of political world we want to see,” Bos said. “The hope is [the talk] inspires people to take the things I observed in the study and think about their relationship to politics and how they’re projecting it to kids.”
Bos said one of her goals is to bring outward facing work to Occidental to benefit the college and its surrounding community. Bos has written for The Conversation, an independent, nonprofit news organization which focuses on the knowledge of scientists and researchers.
“It’s a nice way for faculty to write stories related to current events that connect to their research and bring theory to practice, in ways that media outlets can then pick it up and write about,” Bos said.
According to Upson-Saia, Bos’ impressive background makes her a great match for Occidental.
“I think students should be really proud to have a dean who is an accomplished scholar,” Upson-Saia said. “She has published 48 papers […] it is really amazing. Our students are rising scholars. You all are becoming intellectuals, whether you ever publish a paper or not.”
Professor of psychology Susan Geffen said she was eager to attend the event and hear a perspective on politics separate from the mainstream media coverage of the midterm elections.
“I like [how] there was some mention in the descriptions that it was typically children’s artwork,” Geffen said. “Getting a perspective on how kids see politics, because kids eventually grow into voters, that was enticing to me.”
Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs and professor of economics Brandon Lehr said he works with Bos in the dean’s office.
“Everyone is thinking about politics, but maybe not thinking about how the youth or kids think,” Lehr said. “Her research speaks to that a lot.”
Contact Lila Weiner at weinerl@oxy.edu
